World War II
left the United
Kingdom with an appetite for a broader distribution of wealth and a strengthening of social
security, while more conservative instincts held fast to a
belief in individual initiative and private property.[2] The
practical resolution of this tension in politics by the two
Chancellors was a Keynesian mixed economy with moderate state
intervention to promote social goals, particularly in education and health.

The consensus dominated British politics until the economic
crises of the 1970s which led to the end of the Golden Age of Capitalism and the rise of
monetarist economics. The Conservative administration of Margaret
Thatcher institutionalised a greater emphasis on a free market approach to
government.

However, the idea of Butskellism has been challenged as a myth,
with claims that there was in fact a sustained argument over the
use of physical controls, monetary policy and direct taxation.[3]